Our loyal readers know I am in a bit of a rut with the marines right now. Green Feevah knows this better then anyone. I whined to him for a full hour last night about how "useless" they are, how much they "suck", how much I suck playing them, etc, etc, etc. Such a joyous conversation and I apologize for putting him through that. LOLZ. Ah... hobby ruts. Let's figure these out.
So, how do you, our readers, get over hobby ruts. I WANT to play them. I WANT to have a marine army. I mostly WANT to paint them. They've just been "failing" me in games. Note the quotations. I went 1-1-1 in one evening, my first time playing them. I suppose it's not that bad actually and a fact I overlooked or, more likely, ignored. Every game was enjoyable, even if due to the opponents. Every game was close. So what am I complaining about?
Probably 40k in general. A very similar list to mine but using the "meta" codexes are so much better in every way, with so many more advantages in rules and costing. But I AM playing vanilla marines afterall. Maybe I just need to hunker down and realize how these guys play. And how is that? Right to the end. My draw and win came because I didn't quit. Kept in there, ground out the kills, survived.
List wise I still think it works well enough. We're playing on 4x4 tables for the 1k games. We aren't a huge mech meta hit. Everyone generally plays all around lists. I did have a couple alternate ideas.
1) Using a Dread with las/ML instead of the scouts
2) Using a Captain on bike, squad of bikes, 2 tacticals and a predator.
I am actually wondering if a Captain wouldn't be better then a librarian. He adds much more close combat punch, which I seem to be lacking. Relic blade (or lightning claws or power weapon) and digital weapons was my thinking.
OR...
Do I take everyone's mockery and do something else altogether? I have 1200pts of orks painted and wouldn't mind just getting them right up to 2k. I have more daemons to paint and no one else is playing daemons in the league. I am just the kind of guy who hates going back on something he posted in his own blog. I am also being fairly stubborn here, refusing to think marines can't work.
So, there's my daily whine.
And for those who made it all the way through, some upcoming things I want to get done.
Beastmen: I am trying a wacky list on Wednesday using lots of MSU monster units. Minos and Centigors and lots of chaff. I may play a second more serious list but still including the big mino bus, just accompanied by proper blocks of gor and a proper caster. Depending on how this goes it may help me build more of them to where I need for a proper solid army.
Empire: I have two packs of the GW modular movement trays thanks to Green Feevah so I am going to be making proper fancy movement trays for my empire. It's really about time too.
Those are my two most pressing fantasy concerns at the moment, especially the Empire stuff.
I also might try and get in a fantasy tourney on Nov 27th. It's a Storm of Magic tourney in Calgary. 1600pts with 400pts of monsters. No SoM magic items allowed. I have the army painted and just need to figure out what monsters I'd bring. I have a chimera built that needs to be gap filled and a cockatrice to fix up a bit. Plus have a ton of other monsters from giants to dragon ogres to Dark Emmissary to, well, just about anything really. May push to get a cygor done for it if I go.
So there we are. Weddings over, back to the grind.
I think you should stick with your Marines as the Vanilla Marine book is easily one of the best 5th edition codexes (I would put it right after Dark Eldar). I think your biggest problem is that you have almost no games in with this army. I know for myself the first 10 or so games with a new army are filled with massive growing pains as I gradually learn what works for me and what doesn't. I took up Dark Eldar this year and my first 5-10 games ranged from great to brutal (getting used to being that fragile takes some getting used to). While not being a Marine player myself I can tell you things you could do to increase your armies competitiveness from a Dark Eldar/Tyranid point of view.
ReplyDeleteThe two main issues I see (from a competitive point of view) with the list you posted below is that you have a massively lack of mobility and long range fire power to help soften the enemy up before they get to your mid range "hurt zone".
5th edition 40k is all about being able to control objectives (both yours and theirs) and while you do have a decent amount of troops (30 tact marines and a unit of scouts in 1000pts is really good) you have no real way to control the board (which is where the mobility factor comes in). If I were you I would get some Rhinos or Razorbacks into this army. It will help greatly.
The second issue is the lack of long range firepower (specifically anti tank). You have 3 Missile Launchers, a Multi Melta (at BS 3) and an Autocannon. I know from my Tyranid point of view you will on average do 2-3 wounds to my Monstrous Creatures MAX before I can get to you and that is assuming I have no cover or feel no pain (catalyst). When you go up to 1200pts I would consider adding in maybe a Rifleman Dread (2 x twin linked autocannons) or a 5 man devastator squad with 4 missile launchers. Another option would be maybe to switch out the flamers in one of your Tact units for a melta gun and a combi melta. The two options that you list above would also help with the mobility and firepower issue.
What it really comes down to though is "are you having fun?". If after a bunch more games you aren't having fun with your Space Marines then switch to your Orks or maybe fantasy. I know for myself if I get tired with one army I will bust out another (like right now the Bugs are on the shelf as I am loving how the DE play) just for some variation :)
I am thinking if I can get someone over, I'll try more games Sunday night with them. It's really easy to play a 1k game.
ReplyDeleteI am thinking about a drop pod army. Cleans up the mobility issue good and allows me to better pick the fights I want. 2 tacts in pods, dread in pod, libby or captain to lead, Predator and whatever else for the rest.